Terrorism in International relations

Terrorism is defined as the recurrent use or threatened use of politically motivated and clandestinely organised violence by a group whose aim is to influence a psychological target in order to make it behave in a way which the group desires, Harmon (2000).  In the beginning it was a device of the state and was intended to strengthen the authority of the new found radical government, shielding it from elements thought to be subversive. Terrorism has evolved since the time of the anarchist to the current which is based on religion. It has further undergone through various transformations as technological advancement is being experienced world-wide.  This development has further made terrorism of today more complicated than ever and hence the impact on international relations as it has brought suffering to innocent citizens, loss of lives and property and above all uncertainty among states.  Terrorism in international relation is indeed not a new phenomenon as it has been there since time immemorial as evidenced by the terrorist activities that have taken place since the 13^th century.

According to Rapoport(1984) early origins of terrorism stretched from the 14 to the 18^th century.  From the time of the assassins in the late 13^th century to the 1700s, terror was widely used in warfare and conflict but the key ingredients to terrorism were lacking in aspects of motivation, organisation, targeting and goals.  Until the rise of the modern nation state after the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648, the sort of central authority and cohesive society that terrorism attempted to influence barely existed and communications were inadequate and controlled.  By the time kingdoms became nations they had sufficient means to enforce their authority and suppress activities such as terrorism.  Terror is exactly what Robespierre brought to the people of France. Following the execution of Louis XVI, Robespierre was made the de facto leader of the French government.  He was a member of the Jacobins political party and used his new found power to attack his political enemies, the Girondins. Thousands of people were executed at Robespierre’s request and it became one of the bloodiest times in French history. Most of the victims were beheaded using the guillotine which was often referred to by the title “The National Razor”.  Any opposition to the power of the Jacobins was immediately squashed and people lived in fear of punishment.This period of time was referred to as the Reign of Terror. After nearly a year the terror came to an end and Robespierre was overthrown and executed. When it was over, people started to use the word terrorist to describe a person who abuses power through the threat of force. A journalist in the United Kingdom wrote about the Reign of Terror in The Times newspaper and created the word terrorism as a way to describe the actions of Robespierre, (Hoffman,1988).

States as well as non-state bodies have used fear as their weapon of choice for a very long time and as a historical process the use of fear may have its own dynamic and regularities.  However the modern era 19^th century saw the escalation of modern terrorism which was as a result of radical political improvements in weapons technology thereby spurring the formation of small groups of revolutionaries who effectively attacked nation states. Rapoport (2001) classifies international terrorism into four broad categories, the four waves of terrorism.  A wave in this case is a cycle of activity in a given time period. The cycle is  characterized by expansion and contraction phases. A crucial feature is its international character similar activities occur in several countries, driven by common predominant energy thatshapes the participating groups’ characteristics and mutual relationships, (Rapoport, 2004: 47).

The waves illustrate the general ideological trends in terrorism over the past 130years. It is important to note that each wave reflects the dominant but not the only ideology of the wave. Nationalist groups, for example appear inall waves (Rapoport, 2004: 47). The origin of the first wave, which is generally also seen as the origin ofmodern terrorism is set around 1880 in Russia. The wave wasanarchistic in character and was the first global terrorist experience (Rapoport,2004:47).Their goal was to force those defending governments to respond to terror in ways that would undermine the rules which governments claimed to respect. In order to achieve the disproportional response of governments, terrorists targeted various high ranking officials and even heads of state. In this way excessive force used by authorities would polarise societies and uprising would follow. The weapon of choice of these first terrorists was the use of the dynamite bomb.

One of the main characteristics of the first wave was the political assassinations. The most important group was the People’s Will. The group expected that targeting specific political representatives would trigger a popular uprising. This led the group to choose its targets very carefully, ultimately killing Tsar Alexander II (Richardson, 2007:56-58). The wave that started in Russia soon swept Europe and eventually reached the United States. Anarchists killed, amongst others, the President of France Marie Carnot, the President of United States William McKinley, the Prime Minister of Spain Antonio Castillo and later also Prime Minister José Canalejas, Elisabeth of Bavaria the Empress of Austria and Umberto I the King of Italy and hence it is not a surprise that the period is sometimes called the “Golden Age ofAssassination” (Rapoport, 2004: 52). The wave of anarchist violence that swept the world led President Roosevelt of the United States to ask in December 1901 for international treaties among all civilized powers to make anarchism a crime against the law of nations and to empower the federal government to deal with this crime (Jensen, 2001). This was a callfor an international battle against anarchist terrorism.  The first period of international terrorism also witnessed the first attempt by states to tackle terrorism globally after the assassination of the head of states however these attempts failed as states were unable to forge consensus for joint action.As the first wave eased or folded another would already been established because the terrorism trends followed the political path taken by states at each particular time.  For example the end of the First World War also brought with it another wave.

The second or anticolonial wave of terrorism began with signing of the Treaty of Versailles ending the First World War. The principle of self-determination used to break-up defeated empires provided a foundation for aspirations of anew kind of terrorist organisation.  For example, the Irish Republican Armyand various Jewish organisations that operated against British forces in the Palestine. The terror campaigns of the second wave were fought mainly in territories where special political problems made the withdrawal of forces by the colonial power a less attractive option. It was in Palestine where Menachem Begin, the leader of Jewish organization Irgun from 1943 to 1948, described its members for the first time as freedom fighters fighting against government terror, Hoffman (2004).The second wave of terrorism received extensive support from various diasporas who also backed financially and hence the bank robberies that were witnessed in the first wave were minimalised.  They resorted much less to assassinations. The strategy ofthe second wave of terror was more complicated.  The primary goal of terrorists was the elimination of the local police force and achieving its substitution by occupying military forces that were expected to be too clumsy indealing with terrorists, but powerful enough to cause grievance among the population through their disproportionate responses to the actions of terrorists. During the anticolonial wave of terrorism it became a common practiceto call terrorists fighting against colonial powers freedom fighters, Rapoport (2004:51-52).  These waves interlinked building on the state of international relations prevailing during a particular period.  The Vietnam war brought with it the third wave of terrorism.

The third wave, known as the New-Left meaning international terrorism emerged in the 1960s out of discontent with the western political climate that was characterized by the Vietnam War and had the Cold War as broader context (Shughart, 2006: 21). Terrorist groups were active in Europe, Latin America and the United States and were often aided by Palestinian organizations, most notably the PLO and state sponsors for example Libya, Iran and the Soviet Union.  The end of the Cold War in 1989/1991 and as a result the decrease ofstate sponsorship of terrorism, as there was no longer a need for destabilizingWestern Europe, were the main reason behind the demise of the third wave, Rapoport (1984:) states that the occurrence of new left terrorism was stimulated by the VietnamWar which was seen to prove that modern states were vulnerable to relatively unsophisticated weapons and tactics. Many young people became deeply dissatisfied with the existing system and they gave rise to terror organizations such as the Red Army Faction in the West Germany, Italian Red Brigades and French Action Directe.  The third wave ran from the 1960s to the 1980s and it witnessed much more international cooperation in counter terrorism activities.  The United Nations adopted major conventions that outlawed hijacking, hostage taking and financing terrorists. The target selection of the third wave of terrorists was remarkably similarto those of the first wave of international terrorism as prominent targets becamevery popular again. According to Robison (2006) the new left wave of terrorism produced some700 hijackings, there were 409 international kidnapping incidents involving 951 hostages from 1968 to 1982, assassinated high-ranking officials included the prime ministers of Spain and Jordan, the former prime minister of ItalyAldo Moro and others. However, while anarchists in the first wave assassinated officials withthe aim of provoking disproportionate response, the new left terrorists rather punished their targets for various reasons. It is significant that one third ofall targets of the third wave of terrorism were United States of America targets.

The third wave of terrorism witnessed much more international cooperationin counter terrorism activities. The UN adopted major conventions thatoutlawed hijacking, hostage taking and financing terrorists. Freedom fighter was no longer a popular term in the United Nations. Paradoxically, the Palestine Liberation Organization that had used terrorism to promote its policies receivedofficial UN status and was recognised by more than 100 states. As in the first wave, states cooperated openly and formally in counter terror attacks. For example the United States of America with British aid bombed Libya in 1986 because of its perceived role as a state sponsor and the European community imposed an arms embargo.  These developments slowly culminated to the current wave of terrorism which is the religious wave.

The religious wave began in the same decade.  In the three earlier waves, religious identity was always religious and ethnic identities often overlap however religion has a different significance in the fourth wave.  Islam is the most important religion in this wave. The fourth, and for now last wave has its roots in the Iranian Revolution and the invasion of Afghanistan by the Soviet Union in 1979 (Rapoport:2004:52). Although religion has always played an important role in some terrorist organizations, for example in the IRA and Irgun, it was typically subordinate to other main causes. The IRA, for instance, wanted to liberate and unite the whole of Ireland, while the Irgun aimed to create a Jewish state. In the fourth wave religion became the ideological justification for perpetrating terrorist attacks. While terrorism violence associated with Christianity has been relatively low, other religions including Hinduism and Judaism played a greater role in this fourthwave. Ultimately the wave is predominantly characterized by fundamentalist Islamist terrorism (Rapoport, 2004: 52). This wave is further characterized by specific trends like suicide terrorism, the decline of the numberof terrorist groups and the targeting of softer targets (Rapoport, 2004: 62-65). Terrorism motivated either in whole or in part by a religious imperative, where violence isregarded by its practitioners as a divine duty or sacramental act, embraces markedly different means of legitimization and justification than that committedby secular terrorists, and these distinguishing features lead, in turn, to yetgreater bloodshed and destruction (Hoffman, 2006: 83).  This wave has proved to be complicated and has changed the face of international relations as states the world over are struggling to eradicate this new form of terrorism.  The world has further been divided by the intensification of the current wave of terrorism thereby compromising on international relations.

It is important to note that the waves and the trends that took place since the 13^th century are an indication that terrorism has existed for decades.  Generally the waves stand for general trends in terrorism that have occurred over the past century and hence are evidence that terrorism is not a new phenomenon but has been there since time immemorial, however the dynamics of terrorism keep changing since the first wave.  This is due to the technological advancement in the world as well as political factorsfacing the world today.

In conclusion terrorism is not a new phenomenon, its history dates back to several millennia and includes all kind of groups, states and motivations.  Each era, in the past and present has taken its colour from the existing deprivation, inequities and injustice in different scenarios to build its own case of legitimacy.  The terrorist groups have borrowed knowledge from the past experiences and present technologies.   

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